IF VILLA fans have pushed the run to the 2000 FA Cup final to the back of their minds, then the last-four showdown with Bolton Wanderers is likely to have been completely erased from the memory banks.

The prize was mouth-watering for the side from Birmingham, a first FA Cup final in 43 years and the chance to be a part of the last-ever showpiece to be played in front of Wembley’s famous Twin Towers.

And all that stood in the way of John Gregory’s men was a side from the second tier of English football.

Bolton Wanderers had enjoyed two season-long flirts with the Premier League promised land, but the Trotters were still a year away from establishing themselves in the top flight.

It should have been straightforward for a Villa side that had finished sixth in the Premier League, but what followed at the old Wembley was a gruelling, goal-less 120 minutes and a penalty shoot-out that woke up those who had slipped into a deep slumber.

For Villa, the 120 minutes were a period to forget.

They had lost Holte End favourite Ian Taylor to injury after just 15 minutes, witnessed a petulant strop from Benito Carbone when the Italian was substituted in the 70th minute and seen Mark Delaney sent off in extra-time for two bookable offences in the space of three minutes.

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That’s not to mention a below-par peformance from the so-called big boys in vertical claret and blue stripes, which included Julian Joachim squandering several opportunities to wrap up the game early on.

However, it was equally as painful for their Lancastrian opponents who could, and should, have won the tie in the second half of extra time.

Bolton striker Dean Holdsworth had a moment that every goal-getter dreads and one that left him wishing the Wembley turf would open up and swallow him.

With just ten minutes of extra time remaining and their ten-man opponents on the ropes, Eidur Gudjohnsen rolled the ball into Holdsworth’s path eight yards out. With Villa goalkeeper David James nowhere to be seen and Trotters supporters poised to celebrate, Holdsworth incredibly smashed his effort over the open goal.

While mickey-taking Villa fans would have happily held up Holdsworth as their hero of the tie, there were two genuine star men who played a key part in the 4-1 shoot-out victory.

The first was the man between the sticks for Villa. Despite failing to pile further misery on Holdsworth’s day, James managed to save spot-kick efforts from ex-Blues loanee Allan Johnston and Dane Michael Johansen.

The other claret and blue hero that day was Dion Dublin. It wasn’t just the fact that the centre-forward smashed home the decisive penalty, after team-mates Steve Stone, Lee Hendrie and Gareth Barry had done the business from 12 yards, it was more the manner of Dublin’s comeback from injury for the semi-final that attracted the headlines.

Less than four months earlier, Dublin had been stretchered off in a game against Sheffield Wednesday with a broken neck that threatened his long-term mobility, let alone his career. Yet, remarkably, he rose off the bench to enter the fray in the 70th minute, for a very unhappy Carbone, to go on to play his part in what his boss described as ‘‘storybook stuff’’.

Dublin could have easily had the final word without the need for penalties, but his downward, angled header late-on was tipped on to the inside of the post by Jussi Jaaskelainen.

While the 36,000 travelling Villa fans hadn’t witnessed the most entertaining of Wembley match-ups, they were hoping their return to the national stadium six weeks later would bring a long-awaited FA Cup. Sadly that wasn’t to be the case.

DION Dublin’s miraculous powers of recovery may have dominated the headlines following Villa’s 2000 FA Cup semi-final win over Bolton, but the real match-winner was David James.

Had it not been for the imposing frame between the sticks, Villa may well have been on the end of a giant-killing that April afternoon.

The then-29-year-old James conceded Dean Holdsworth’s penalty but managed to keep out Bolton’s other efforts from Allan Johnston and Michael Johansen, while his outfield team-mates completed their side of the bargain to wrap up the 4-1 shoot-out victory.

James, signed from Liverpool the previous summer, attracted plenty of post-match praise for his penalty heroics from his manager.

Moments after the semi-final win, on the subject of his man mountain, Villa boss John Gregory said: “When it went to penalties, I had a lot of faith in David. When I looked at him in that goal, he looked huge. There was not a lot of room and they were two excellent saves.

“One or two of the lads said before the penalties that they felt he would make the difference.”

Prior, throughout and beyond his Villa career, the goalkeeper was dogged by the ‘Calamity James’ nickname that first surfaced following blunders for Liverpool.

Sadly, that undesirable tag came back to haunt James in the FA Cup final, when he was at fault for Roberto Di Matteo’s winner for Chelsea.

Yet despite being much-maligned at the time, James was still pushing for a place in Kevin Keegan’s Euro 2000 squad.

In the build-up to the FA Cup semi-final, James had revealed he was fearful of missing out on a Three Lions call-up to Euro 2000 after a row with England goalkeeping coach Ray Clemence.

James ended up making the preliminary squad for the tournament in Belgium/Netherlands, but David Seaman, Nigel Martyn and Richard Wright were eventually selected ahead of him.